FROM THE FOUNDATION

Paper to Electronic Charts Made Easy

Community clinics with experience making the transition from paper to electronic records share the strategies, techniques, and insights they learned along the way.

Telehealth Project to Provide Dental Care

Low-income families will receive free dental care, thanks to the Virtual Dental Home, a telehealth project supported by CHCF and other funders. The four-year pilot project will eventually operate in nine California communities.

Take the DiabetesMine Design Challenge

Have a creative idea for a new tool to improve life with diabetes? The 2010 DiabetesMine Design Challenge is offering $23,000 in cash, plus consultations with design experts and other prizes. CHCF is a sponsor; entries are due by April 30.

Telehealth

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Alaska Hospital Chain Rolls Out Telemedicine System for Stroke Care

Stroke patients in Alaska could be treated closer to home once hospitals in the Providence Health & Services Alaska hospital chain install a new telemedicine system, the Augusta Chronicle reports.

Georgia-based REACH Call developed the system.  It will be based at Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage, which will serve as a "hub" facility, and will expand to three other "spoke" hospitals by mid-April, according to REACH Call CEO Sandeep Agate.

Agate said the system eventually will be installed in seven "spoke" facilities statewide.

The system lets consulting physicians see CT scans and other test results and permits a neurologist to monitor potential stroke patients at remote hospitals.

The remote consultation is particularly important in deciding whether the drug tPA should be administered to dissolve a blood clot in stroke patients, the Chronicle reports (Corwin, Augusta Chronicle, 3/10).



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